About christina

Each year RE/MAX Australia and RE/MAX New Zealand invite their top performers to participate in a forum of shared knowledge and experiences. This year Grant and Christina with some of the team from RE/MAX Profile attended the two day gathering, June 18th – 20th in Hamilton Island.

Christina, having won the RE/MAX Australia’s ultimate individual honour ‘The Eagle Award’ earlier this year, was invited to speak about what we do differently at RE/MAX Profile to generate record prices for our clients. Christina always has a willingness to impart her knowledge and guide other Agents to succeed in the RE/MAX network.

The gathering of around 50 people was an intense professional and personal development, and networking opportunities. The forum’s theme was about not expecting others to make things better and instead to create your success for you. The program had panel and round table sessions featuring RE/MAX top performers explaining how they’ve created successful businesses, plus three exceptional external speakers – Kylie Davis, Head of Real Estate Solutions at CoreLogic; Mike Storkey, a business trainer, coach, licensed real estate agent and Toastmasters International President-Elect; and Chantelle Baxter, co-founder and CEO of One Girl.

Chantelle was inspirational, having personally changed lives of 12,000 young women in some of the world’s poorest nations. Mike spoke about how communication is being affected by technology and that personal communication, either face-to-face or by telephone, is still the most effective form of communication.

Those that attended this excellent event are like-minded and all want to strive to succeed with providing their clients superior service and outstanding results.

The deadline for residents to bring backyard pools in Queensland up to scratch has passed and if your pool, spa pool or portable swimming pool does not meet the State Government’s pool safety standards you may face penalties in excess of $800.

The November 30 deadline has loomed for some months now and from today if your pool fence isn’t high enough or the gate doesn’t lock properly and the Council inspectors catch you out, be prepared to fork out some serious coin.

If your pool isn’t registered with the Queensland Building and Construction Commission residents could be stung with a $2356 fine and further penalties up to $18,785.25 can be issued to pool owners if they fail to comply with the safety standards.

All pools need to comply with the standards, get signed off by a licensed pool safety inspector and be registered with the QBCC.

Pool safety inspector Marcel Stam* from Gladstone Building and Pest Inspections thought there was still about 40% of pools in the Gladstone region that weren’t compliant. An inspection will cost anywhere between $185 – $300. “Even if your pool is compliant, just about every pool will need new CPR signs because child resuscitation has been added,” he said. “The most common thing are gates not self-closing, vegetation growing through fences and gardens built up too close to fences.

If you’re unsure your pool complies with the State Government’s safety standards, here’s the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Pool compliance checklist (QBCC).

If you’re selling your property, you don’t need a pool safety certificate. But if you don’t provide a certificate, you must give the buyer a ‘Form 36-notice of no pool safety certificate’ before entering a contract of sale. They buyer must get a pool safety certificate within 90 days of settlement.

POOL FENCES

The height of your pool fence must be at least 1200mm.

The gap between the bottom of the fence and the ground must be no more than 100mm.

The gap between your pool fence rails cannot be closer than 900mm apart.

You must ensure there aren’t any climbable objects within 900mm from the outside and 300mm from the inside of your pool fence.

All pool fences must be properly maintained.

SIGNAGE

A current CPR sign must be easily visible to anyone near the pool.

DOORS

You must ensure that no doors or windows provide direct access from the house to the pool and windows which open onto the pool area must be fixed so that they don’t open more than 100mm.

GATES

Pool gates must open away from the pool.

The gate must self-close and self-latch from all open positions.

Gate latches must be at least 1500mm off the ground and 1400mm above the top part of the lower horizontal railings.

If your latch is located on the inside, it needs to be a minimum of 150mm below the top of the fence and covered with a 450mm radius shield on the outside.

The hinges on the pool gate must be at least 900mm apart or the lower hinge has a non-climbable safety cap.

PORTABLE SWIMMING POOLS

Portable swimming pools greater than 300 mm deep are to be fenced. In Queensland this depth is 450 mm and the portable pool cannot be greater than 2000 litres in volume nor have a filtration system. Aligning Queensland with the national depth of 300 mm will improve safety and increase consistency. Research suggests that mandatory safety warnings on portable swimming pools would be unlikely to reduce the number of children who drown or become immersed in portable pools. A public education and awareness campaign is considered to be a more effective approach.

This is a guide only and if you’re still unsure you should contact a licensed pool safety inspector to carry out a full safety audit.

You might have seen the artwork of all the local children displayed in our office window at Easter. We loved seeing how proud the children were with their entries to our colouring-in competition so we are doing it again for Christmas. It’s a raffle draw so everyone has a chance to win. The winner will be drawn on Tuesday 8th December 2015 by 4pm and will be informed by phone on the same day. Children up to the age of 13 are eligible to enter for a chance to win aGourmet Christmas Hamper to the value of $300 from the Rosalie Gourmet Market!

Please download the artwork and form here and we look forward to displaying all the entries until Christmas.

Contest Rules:

This contest is open to anyone ages 1 – 13.

Using pencil, crayon, markers, paint, collage…… PLEASE be as creative as you can!

Make sure you write your name and phone number on a slip provided at reception and place it into the Christmas Box.

On Tuesday 8th December, ONE name will be drawn from the Christmas Box and announced.

The winner will be contacted on the day and will need to collect the freshly made Gourmet Christmas Hamper to the value of $300 from the Rosalie Gourmet Market no later than Thursday 24th December 4pm.

It is exciting times at the moment and it is great to see Brisbane has been moving more confidently towards year’s end. Purchasers are often buying properties that are currently achieving a good rental return and would normally appeal to investors as well. There have been some stronger numbers coming out of residential markets and improvements in buyers’ choice for quality finishes and fittings.

Find out which parts of Brisbane are most desirable and where multiple offers are being achieved in the latest snapshot of the Brisbane Market provided by Herron Todd White Valuers.

This is always the question on everyone’s lips! Find out which parts of Brisbane are most desirable and where multiple offers are being achieved in the latest snapshot of the Brisbane Market provided by Herron Todd White Valuers.

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Testimonials

We appreciate and are very grateful for your diligence, follow up and professionalism in securing our investment unit in Kelvin Grove.
We would have no hesitation in highly recommending your services to prospective clients and look forward to continuing our business with you as our rental Property Managers

Russell and Rae Tewes

I can recommend Grant as a courteous, comprehensive, prompt and diplomatic real estate agent who achieved pleasing results in a short time frame.
Dr Robyn

Thank you for assisting us with the sale of our investment property at Fernberg Road, Paddington. You kept us well informed and we appreciated the phone calls and emails. You kept the tenant on side and helped 'smooth the waters' with a fussy buyer. Being from interstate, we also relied on your local knowledge of the sale process and the paperwork required (eg completing the body corporate Disclosure Statement for the unit). Thank you again for an excellent and professional service.

--Mike & Lyn

I have been buying and selling homes now for some years, and I have to say the dealing with Grant Penrose in the recent sale of one of my properties has been a fantastic experience.
I have dealt with many different Realtors in the past but Grant took the selling of my property to a whole new level in relation to the level of professionalism, continued feedback, eagerness to assist and to offer an unsurpassed level of satisfaction.
Any future dealings with any purchases or sales in real estate, I will only get Grant involved

Frank Weijers

This was our first experience selling property and Grant made the entire experience smooth and stress free for us. From the very beginning of the process he kept us informed of the current market and gave us valuable information regarding the price and presentation of our property. At no time did we feel pressured or rushed. Comprehensive reports were delivered every week, keeping us up to date with the interest in our property. The property was on the market on Friday afternoon, with the first open house on Saturday. Grant visited our house on that Sunday afternoon with an excellent contract that we signed at full price with a settlement before Christmas. This was a result that we did not expect and I’m positive we would not have achieved without Grant’s experience, professionalism and passion for real estate. Grant has restored our faith in Real Estate Agents. Should we ever need to buy or sell a property again there is no doubt that we will be contacting Grant first and foremost.

--Dom

Grant's efforts during the sale of the house were wonderful and his communication with us and the tenants kept everyone in the loop. We are sure this gave prospective buyers confidence to purchase.

Thanks again.

Regards, Bob, Ken and Families

(Gotha Street, Camp Hill)

I am pleased to offer a recommendation for Grant Penrose. Grant took over the sale of our two properties in St Lucia after they had been with another agent for 5 months. His aggressive marketing approach managed to achieve more people through the properties than the total number in the previous 5 months and both properties were sold in a short period in what has been a seriously depressed real estate market. Grant’s attention to detail and advice on how to advertise and approach difficult purchaser requests was great, as were the friendly calls after every open home. His communication and negotiations between both purchasers and the vendor was smooth and trouble free.

--M.E. Smith

Just wanted to send you a quick note to say thank you very much for the gift I received from you yesterday. It was very nice of you. I have to say you certainly made the whole process of the purchase a lot easier and I really appreciate the proactive approach you took to finalising the contract and closing out any issues that arose. Much appreciated and certainly to a higher standard than the majority of other agents I have dealt with in my time.

--Nick

I want to congratulate Grant Penrose and RE/MAX Bardon for all the hard work and diligence shown on the successful sale of my unit. Grant put in all the hard yards required and more to get the unit sold. I am very happy and I believe the purchasers are too. Grant negotiated with the management of the unit complex in a very careful and considered way which I really appreciated. I will recommend RE/MAX Bardon to everyone who wants a successful sale or purchase.

Cheers,

Desi & Lizzie

Desmond Gill

I want to share with you the integrity Grant and Christina have demonstrated to me over 8 years in association with them performing real estate transactions. Grant and Christina have broken the mould and you can truly set aside all preconceived negative feelings and emotions you have when trusting the sale of your property to them. I have experienced them performing their services at levels unheard of on many occasions and that is why I refer all my sellers to them without hesitation.